


everything we touch (turns to gold)

by TheQueenInTheNorth



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Olympics, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-20 17:54:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13722957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheQueenInTheNorth/pseuds/TheQueenInTheNorth
Summary: Sinara loves hockey. But after practice, she loves watching the figure skaters more.





	everything we touch (turns to gold)

**Author's Note:**

> i really know nothing about figure skating (or hockey for that matter lol)

"Have fun cleaning, errand girl,"Faulnak said loudly as he left the rink. Sinara clenched her teeth and said nothing. She was used to people making fun of her for working at the ice rink, but it was the only way she could afford to be on the ice hockey team. It had gotten worse, though, since Faulnak had taken over some of the responsiblities from Coach Ukena. Everyone thought Faulnak was so great, just because he was a favourite to make it onto the Olympic team if his leg injury healed in time. She really hoped it didn't; he was a massive jerk and deserved to have his dreams crushed.

Either way, she loved being on the ice, she loved competing, and she really didn't mind the work. Especially because most days, by the time she was done with everything, the owner of the little in-house cafe came over with a mug of hot chocolate.

She settled down with it and watched the figure skaters. Figure skating, she thought, was a whole nother level of amazing. It was one of those things people didn't seem to think of as a proper sport because it was too pretty, but it was undeniably an excercise in skill. Maybe she was so drawn to it because she'd always wanted to take ballet as a kid. There had been no money for that either, of course.

One of the skaters she was especially taken with. He was about her age, she thought, and there was just something about him. Of course it could just be that he usually stayed longer than the others and she got to watch him all by himself. Rationally, that was probably it; she kept telling herself that. But there was such a melancholy to him, such raw emotion in every movement. She often wondered what made him so sad.

She sighed into her hot chocolate, wishing she could just go over and ask.

* * *

"Hi."

The voice behind her surprised her enough that the hockey sticks she was holding almost clattered right back onto the ice. Faulnak had told the team to just leave their equipment, since she was there to clean up after them anyway. All but two of her teammates had actually followed his prompt.

"Sorry,"the voice said."I didn't mean to startle you."

She turned around, about to ask what the speaker wanted, when she saw who it was. She stared at him blankly.

"Hi,"he repeated somewhat uncertainly."I - uhm - I've seen you around a lot. Watching our training? I'm Kasius." He offered a hand, realised she didn't have one free, and pulled it back, blushing brightly."I was wondering why you'd never been at try-outs? Since you seem interested in figure skating." He trailed off, cheeks somehow darkening further."Also, what's your name?"

"Sinara,"she said. She hadn't ever thought about the fact that the skaters would obviously notice being constantly stared at. Damn, how stupid could she get? She swallowed hard."Hi."

"So." Kasius was smiling."Would you ever want to give it a try? Figure skating?"

Sinara shrugged, not meeting his eyes."I wouldn't have the money to pay the coach."

"Oh." They were both silent for a moment, so long Sinara was just about to turn away again when Kasius spoke up,"If you wanted, you could just try now? With me? Coach won't be here for another hour."

That actually sounded tempting, even if she probably would make a total fool of herself. But getting it out of her system didn't seem like the worst idea. Still, the choice wasn't up to her."Thanks, but I've got to get everything cleared up before you guys need the ice, so..."

She turned to do just that, pushing away the disappointment. A few seconds later he caught up with her, arms full with the rest of her team's equipment."We'll be done faster together, right?"

* * *

They'd fallen into a comfortable routine through the last few weeks. He'd show up soon after her practice ended and helped her clean up, they'd try out some moves for a while, and then she did the rest of her chores while he was in his practice; after his coach and the others had left, they'd try out a few more things.

As she had predicted, the whole thing was a lot harder than it looked. But it was also incredibly fun, especially the lifts. Well worth the dozens and dozens of bruises; they ended up in a tangle of limbs on the ice rather more often than not. But between all the breathless laughter and flushed cheeks, Sinara couldn't remember why she'd ever thought Kasius looked sad. He was ecstatic as soon as he set foot on the ice.

He was just helping her back to her feet when the heavy door to the hall slammed shut.

"Fuck,"Kasius muttered as he looked over to the source of the noise. He'd told her they'd have to stop earlier today since his older brother was going to pick him up. They'd completely forgotten about it, as a quick glance at the clock confirmed.

Sinara turned to face the door, too, and her heart sank." _That's_ your brother?"

"Yes,"he said in a tone of defeat. And then, at the same time as she said it,"I hate that guy."

They exchanged a small smile as Faulnak's haughty voice already drifted over to them."Get over here, Kasius, we're leaving. Really, as if it's not bad enough Father's throwing his money away on your little dance routines, now you're wasting time with the help, too?"

"It's okay,"Sinara whispered; the look on Kasius' face made it perfectly clear he was about to snap at his brother. She gave his hand a quick squeeze."Go ahead. I'll see you Friday."

(She already decided she'd skip hockey that day. She didn't feel like facing Faulnak and his derision.)

* * *

Sinara did her best not to think about The Incident. Mostly because she thought Faulnak had the tiniest bit of a point. Kasius should be focussing on the upcoming Olympic qualifying, not occupying himself with her silly little dreams. He could make it, he really could. She'd never seen anyone like it, not in all the videos she obsessively watched on her crappy old laptop.

Some of the melancholy seemed to have returned to Kasius, though. He looked as sad as he had before they'd ever spoken when she walked into the hall that day, even as he was spinning his dizzying circles on the ice. His face brightened once he spotted her."I thought you weren't coming."

"Just didn't feel like hockey,"she said, trying to sound casual. By the look on his face, it hadn't really worked. He sighed."It's because of my dickhead brother, isn't it? Father's like that, too. He only even lets me skate because Mum was the one to sign me up, you know. Before she died."

"Oh." They hadn't really spoken about their private lives very much."I'm sorry."

He shrugged."That was ages ago. I'm okay." He didn't sound entirely convinced, but she didn't push the point as he offered her his hand."I thought of a new routine. You wanna try?"

Of course she did.

* * *

"And here I was under the impression you didn't do pairs."

Kasius stumbled, and in a rare role reversal it was Sinara who had to steady him. Kasius' tongue darted out to wet his lips nervously."I don't."

"That's not what it looked like just now." Sinara recognised the man as Kasius' coach, Krenyk. He looked half amused, half annoyed."I've been telling you you'd do great in a pair for years."

"Did Faulnak tell on us?"Kasius asked. His coach stiffled a laugh."You're not preschoolers, Kasius. But yes, Faulnak _told on you._ " He didn't have to do the airquotes for Sinara to hear them. Krenyk stepped closer."So?"

"So what?"Sinara demanded when Kasius didn't speak up.

 "Am I training you both now?" He asked it as if it were an actual possiblity.

Sinara glanced at Kasius to see if Krenyk was kidding, but he was only looking at her as expectantly as the coach. She shrugged."I couldn't pay you."

"I've only had my trainees place at single events,"Krenyk said, not really taking her arguement into account."I'd really like a medal in pairs."

"Then yes,"Kasius said, after throwing Sinara a look and getting a nod in return."You're training us both."

* * *

Sinara hadn't really taken the whole thing serious - well, she had taken training very serious, but she hadn't dared to imagine it would lead anywhere. But now they had qualified. They'd actually qualified. She was going to the Olympics. As probably the least prepared person who had ever gone there.

"Oh my god, I can't do this,"she said, more to herself than to anyone else. Kasius reached out to take her hand."Hey, what's wrong? Fear of flying? You should've said something, we could've given you sleeping pills or something."

She couldn't bring herself to look at him."Not the flying, Kas. The Olympics. I can't do this. I'm not even a real figure skater. I'm a hockey player who thought doing gymnastics as a kid in a shitty programm by a shitty after school care centre was somehow good enough."

"You're freaking out,"he stated matter-of-factly."That's about twenty times more words than I've ever heard you say in a row. And we qualified. We can't be that bad, huh?" She glanced at him; his smile was reassuring."I mean, if you really don't want to compete, we can drop out. Of course, we could never sleep again lest Krenyk murder us in our sleep. But I'm up for it if you really don't want to compete."

She grinned, just a little."What, and let Faulnak gloat?"

* * *

The applause was almost deafening as Kasius lowered her back onto the ice, though she wondered how she could hear anything at all over the furious pounding of her own heart. Kasius was still down on one knee from the final pose, and she let herself sink down aswell, wrapping her arms around his neck, basking in his radiant smile.

She wanted to kiss him. Dear god, she wanted to kiss him so badly. But this really wasn't the place, infront of all these people and all the cameras. And anyway, you couldn't just go kissing the best friend you'd ever had. Who knew what that would mess up?

Instead, she let her forehead drop against his, closed her eyes, and did her best to remember every tiny detail of this moment.

* * *

She was curled into Kasius' side, legs thrown across his lap and his arm around her waist as they were passing a bottle back and forth with one of the bobsleigh teams. She'd forgotten the name of the alcohol again, something from Luxembourg or somewhere, but it was a good mix between getting you just buzzed enough and not actually burning your throat as you drank it.

Kasius lightly nudged her and nodded towards the door. Faulnak and his team had just entered, wearing their bronze medals. Without really thinking about it, Sinara raised her own gold medal with one hand, and the middle finger of her other. Faulnak's murderous glare was amazing, but meaningless next to Kasius' uproarious laughter.

When he pulled her closer and kissed her, the rest of the world might have just as well stopped existing.


End file.
